Israeli security forces take up positions during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the West Bank village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron, Nov 29, 2022. (MAHMOUD ILLEAN / AP)
RAMALLAH/GAZA – Five Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in four separate incidents in the West Bank, prompting condemnation and calls for stopping the Israeli violence against Palestinians.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that two Palestinian brothers Jawad Al-Rimawi, 21, and Zafer Al-Rimawi, 22, were killed after they were shot by Israeli soldiers near the village of Kafr Ein in the northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The ministry said in a separate statement that a third Palestinian, identified as Mufid Ikhalyel, was killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beit Ummar in the north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
A fourth Palestinian was killed after he was shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers during clashes that broke out in the village of Al-Mughayyar near Ramallah.
Al-Mughayyar Amin Abu Alia, head of the village council, said during the clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers in the village, a Palestinian man named Raed al-Naasan, 21, was killed.
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Al-Naasan's killing raised the total death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel since January to 206, including 50 in the Gaza Strip, according to official statistics.
There has been no immediate Israeli comment on the incidents in the West Bank. However, according to an Israeli military spokesman in a statement, a fifth Palestinian was killed after he carried out a ramming attack in the east of Ramallah.
Israeli security forces collect evidence from a car belonging to a Palestinian man who rammed his car into an Israeli soldier before he was shot dead by Israeli police near the Israeli settlement of Kochav Yakov, in West Bank, Nov 29, 2022. (OREN HAKOON / AP)
The crime reflects the thoughts and behavior of the perpetrators and the crimes they threaten the Palestinian people with, without the slightest regard for international laws and regulations.
Mohammed Ishtaye, Palestinian Prime Minister
The Palestinian liaison (security coordination) with Israel said in a statement that the Israeli side informed them that Rani Abu Ali, 45, died of the wounds he sustained earlier on Tuesday after his car hit a female Israeli soldier near a gas station close to the Israeli settlement of Kokhav Ya'akov. The Israeli soldier was seriously wounded.
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On Tuesday, Palestine condemned the Israeli killing of the four Palestinians in three separate incidents in the West Bank, holding both Israel and the United States responsible for the rising tension in the West Bank.
The Israeli killing of the four Palestinians "is condemned and the US government is held with a great responsibility because it is the only sponsor of Israel," Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told reporters in Ramallah.
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"The US must punish Israel and hold it accountable for its actions and force it to stop these crimes," Abu Rudeineh said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said killing the four Palestinians "is a heinous crime and an escalation that portends great dangers."
"The crime reflects the thoughts and behavior of the perpetrators and the crimes they threaten the Palestinian people with, without the slightest regard for international laws and regulations," he said in a press statement.
Ishtaye called on the international community "to intervene urgently to stop and bridle the Israeli killing machine and hold the perpetrators accountable."
The Killing of the five Palestinians comes amid growing tension between Israelis and Palestinians since March 2020. The Israeli military makes daily incursions into the West Bank in response to attacks carried out by Palestinians.
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In Gaza, Hazem Qassem, spokesman of the ruling movement Hamas, said in a statement that his movement "condemns the killing of five Palestinians in the West Bank in one day."
He blasted Israel for "trying desperately to stop Palestinian people's legitimate struggle to gain their land" through killings and assassinations.
"This blood will be the fuel for our people's revolution and continuous uprising," Qassem said, warning that Israeli "escalation of its crimes and terrorism will be confronted by an escalation of resistance and revolutionary action."